Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Flor de...[Part IV]

Mandarin.  The tree is about waist high and is infested with a small bug pest.

Canna Lily.  Dad, you will enjoy the many Canna varieties around when you visit.

Local perrenial basil.  Full time abundant flowers which pollenators love.  Good for flavoring in food and tea though Im looking forward to also growing Italian Basil, Black Basil, Purple Basil, Lemon Basil and more to follow.  

Monday, July 6, 2015

Dear Lees,

Growing white raddish from my own seeds.  Good veg, edible greens, good for the soil. 
I keep a lot of sweet potato around for the greens and ground cover, not a big enough potato fan to actually dig any up.
Grew lots of amaranth, steady harvesting for greens, plenty of seeds to come.


Nasturtiums are active.
Today I'll be putting in air layers (rooted on the branch of the parent tree) of pomegranite, macadamia, orange and lime. 
I've got at least 7 types of bananas in stands all over the place.  Bananas are a big part of the future machine.  
Cucumbers were looking good until the rain dried up about a week ago and they seem to have died off.  I got one mature one to taste and save seeds from.  
I bought a small ginger (edible, I have ornamental ginger also) plant from the nice vivero lady in Pana.
I've got a couple small green tomatoes on a vine.  
Jocote harvest looks great.  
Coffee harvest looks OK (with no fertilizer so far) but we had a late bloom of flowers. 
Trying another run with Ethiopian Kale though we didn't make it to seed last time.  
Sweet cucumbers are growing and flowering.
My comfrey has not become a nuisance; I read about there being two kinds and one is not so bad.  Got my first comfrey flower blooming right now.  


Arugula grows, I'll be doing a more organized salad garden in a sunny spot sometime soon. 
The big news is my watercress terraces where the overflow water comes in and lets out.  
This is one terrace step out of four for watercress, a delicious spicy green of Watercress Salad or Watercress Sandwich fame, not to be confused with water chestnut,  These little patches will fill in to form a lovely carpet of watercress.  It will be harvestable continually for home use, or harvestable wholesale every 40 days if sold off at a market.  I have yet to add in a specific snail type that lives happily the watercress.  Thanks to the workshop for constructing these terraces.

Plenty of flowers and ornamentals still going in.  Yesterday a local buddy Walter went around and picked some flowers and green stuff for a small bouquet and told me the local people would pay five Quetzales for it and that he's connected with five churches in the village that buy flowers twice a week every week and their flower guy sick and stopped taking care of the flowers and the flowers died.  So that may be a thing, I'm planting lots anyway.  


Sorghum grows well and looks real pleasant like corn but is less of a nutrient suck.  
That's all I can think of for now.  
The other big news is the pond is happening and is starting to shape up. 

Max